Unlike other restaurants where you get a cooked meal served to you, at a HotPot restaurant you choose what vegetables/meat you want and then you have to cook them in the broth provided. With the option to customize the dipping sauce, it actually makes a great experience for everyone involved!
As a person who does hotpot almost on a weekly basis, and have been disappointed by some restaurants who do hotpot, my expectations were quite low when I went to have HotPot At Liuyishou Hotpot (Chinese Hotpot) in Nepean.
Hotpot Experience at Liuyishou
At Liuyishou You can either go with a la carte or all-you-can-eat option for your hot pot. If you are really hungry and eat a lot, I recommend that you go with all-you-can-eat option. Otherwise a la carte. It might be good to do some math as well as if you eat a lot then a la carte might turn out to be a bit pricey.
You start off by deciding what type of broth you want. Liuyishou offers a bit more variety in terms of broths as previously I had only seen Chicken or Beef broth at other hotpot restaurants. They also had Pork Bone Broth if you prefer to have non-spicy versions of the broth.
The next step for you is to decide on what meat, seafood and vegetables you want to have. They have a lot of options on their menu to choose from! For my Hotpot, I decided to go with
- House Special Marinated Beef
- Chinese Cabbage
- House Special Green Been Noodle
- Daikon Radish
- Signature Tofu Skin
- Enoki Mushroom
- Layered Beef Tripes
While I waited for my food items to be served at my table, I went to the Sauce Bar that they have to make my own dipping sauce. You pick up a variety of different ingredients from the sauce bar into your bowl and then stir it all together. Since the sauce turned out quite good, I am sharing my recipe here as well –
- Peanut Sauce – 1 tablespoon
- Chili Oil – 1 tablespoon
- Garlic – 1 tablespoon
- Green Onions – 1 tablespoon
- Cumin Sauce – 1 tablespoon
- Beef Sauce – 1 tablespoon
Once the items that I ordered came at the table, I put them some of them in small portions into the hotpot to cook for a few minutes and then took them out to cool down for a few seconds before dipping into the sauce and eating it.
Liuyishou Hotpot Review
I must say that this was one of the best experiences I have had with the hotpot so far. The service at Liuyishou Hotpot Ottawa is good and they have a variety of sauces available to get that perfect dipping sauce that you want for your hotpot. I actually got to try some new combinations that I have never before and they all turned out great.
If you have never been at a Hotpot place before I definitely recommend you to try out this place! Also it would be worth asking the servers on their recommendations if it’s your first time as a lot of things might be unfamiliar to you.
Other Items at Liuyishou Hotpot
Besides the whole hotpot experience, they do have some other options but those are a bit limited. If you are not into hotpot then you can order the following items at the Restaurant.
- Egg Fried Rice
- Rice Noodle with Vegetables
- Pan Fried Vegetables and Beef on Rice
- Rice Noodle with Sliced Beef
- Rice with Stewed Beef Brisket
About Liuyishou Hotpot
Liuyishou Hotpot specializes in Chongqing-style hotpot and offers a variety of broths, fresh and quality ingredients with a social atmosphere.
- Chinese restaurant
- Meat/Seafood/Vegan options available
- Casual upscale dining
- Pricier than other casual restaurants
- Best hotpot in Ottawa
- Beer/Wine/Snacks available
- Expect waiting during peak hours
- Delivery option available
Contact Liuyishou Hotpot Ottawa
Address: 10-1568 Merivale Rd, Nepean, ON K2G 3J9
Phone: +1 613-680-0188
Business website: https://www.liuyishouna.com/
How has your experience been so far at Liuyishou? Feel free to share your feedback or if you know any dipping sauce recipes that other readers could benefit from.
Tom Mehra, an Ottawa-based Software Engineer with a Masters in Information Systems from the University of Texas at Dallas, shares insights on local food spots and top attractions in Canada and the US. He’s also a former resident of the US, UK, and India, and in 2023, his blog was nominated for an Ottawa Award by Faces Magazine. He is also a cat sitter.
